Sept. 11, 2010

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RUSTON, La. - The Louisiana Tech volleyball team made quick work of the Centenary College ladies Saturday afternoon (25-17, 25-15, 25-10) at the Thomas Assembly Center to claim the outright title at the Lady Techster Invitational.

"They took us to five sets last season and we didn't want to do that again," said senior Jennifer Goodwin. "Our focus was great today to cap off an awesome weekend. We went three sets with everyone and that doesn't happen often. We were really proud of ourselves and it gives our team confidence heading into next weekend."

Louisiana Tech (7-4) controlled every aspect of the match as they outhit Centenary .267 to .039. Senior Taylor Fritz paced Tech's offensive attack with a match-high nine kills. Goodwin and Kassia Pinto both totaled eight kills while Gabryel Ording and Caitlin Germany added six apiece.

With only two players on the bench to start the match, Tech raced out to an 11-5 lead over the Ladies. However, back-to-back kills by Jaclyn Lopez allowed Centenary to rally as they took a 12-11 lead against Tech. Following a Tech timeout and a ball handling error by Bethany Nuttall, Tech proceeded to go on an 11-3 run that was ultimately capped off with a kill by Taylor Fritz to close out the set.

Getting off to a slow start in the second set, Centenary built a 5-1 lead behind a strong offensive effort from Shelby Singleton whom picked up back-to-back kills. However, Mallory Stanley would answer from the service line allowing the Lady Techsters to take a 6-5 lead highlighted by one of Goodwin's three solo blocks. Tied at 11 apiece, would find their passing hand en route to a 14-4 run to close out the second set.

Capitalizing on the momentum from the second set, Tech stormed out of the break to take a commanding 11-2 lead. With a match-high .333 hitting efficiency in the set, the Tech offense was clicking on all cylinders in the final set. With Pinto, Goodwin and Germany notching multiple kills in the set, Centenary had no answer on the offensive end as they were held to a -.161 hitting efficiency. Tech closed out the set with a 25-10 win following Goodwin's final solo block of the evening.

With the win, Louisiana Tech improves to 26-0 all-time against Centenary.

"We started off a little bit slow but we finally got it together at the end and put the match away," said Taylor Fritz. "It feels so good to finish the week with four-straight wins and all of them via sweep. It definitely helps the confidence of the team."

The Lady Techsters return to action next weekend as they hit the road to take part in the Nicholls State Invitational. Tech will open up play against the University of Houston Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.